Texas Democrats weigh “politics of love” in Senate race

It’s been three decades since Texas voters sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. Yet this year, the state’s Democratic primary is garnering an unusual amount of national attention: Democrats hope that a crowded Republican field with a scandal-plagued front-runner could be just what their party needs to flip a Senate seat.

Less than a week before voters head to the polls, the Democratic primary remains too close to call. Both state Rep. James Talarico, 36, and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, 44, are pitching themselves as the answer to combating the Trump administration. But they’re charting very different paths: One hopes to motivate a Texas Democratic base to turn out to the polls, and the other is banking on reaching moderate Republicans through explicitly religious language.

“As I travel this state, I get the sense that across the political spectrum there is a deep hunger for a different kind of politics,” said Talarico at an Austin rally last week. “Not a politics of hate, not a politics of fear, not a politics of division, but a politics of love—a love for this state, a love for this country and a love for all of our neighbors. A love that can heal what’s broken in America.”

Talarico defeated a Republican to win a swing district in 2018, and he hopes to repeat that success at the statewide level. He’s also enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and in 2024 was part of “Evangelicals for Harris.” He has said he hopes to become a pastor like his grandfather someday but has put his ordination on hold to focus on politics. Since launching his Senate bid in September, he’s built his platform on faith, arguing that Christianity aligns with his progressive politics and often decrying Christian nationalism. In a 2021 floor speech, he claimed God is “nonbinary” as part of an argument against a law that would bar biological boys from participating in girls’ sports at public schools. He has raised a stunning $20 million for his primary campaign so far.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett has spent far less and only recently issued her first campaign ad. But she’s familiar with long-shot races: In her first in 2020, Crockett said she was outspent 5-to-1 in a primary that went to a runoff. She believes she can win this year’s race if Democrats get out the vote.

“Six years ago no one believed that I could become a state representative,” she told supporters through tears at a campaign stop on Sunday. “The people are tired of politics as usual. … There are people that say you’re crazy for thinking that expanding the electorate is the path. Let me give y’all some numbers. … Democrats are outvoting Republicans right now in Texas.”

Both Republican and Democratic voters in Texas say they want to send a fighter to the U.S. Senate, according to a recent University of Houston poll. But what kind is still up for debate. The March 3 primary will kick off the 2026 midterm cycle for the country as the two major political parties vie to either govern or obstruct in Washington.

“Democrats this year are optimistic with Donald Trump in the White House and the potential to face a damaged or flawed Republican candidate, that this could be the year that they actually are able to win a statewide race and break that losing streak that’s been hanging over them for now 30 years,” Rice University political science fellow Mark Jones told me.

Polling from the University of Texas at Austin earlier this month showed Crockett in the lead with about 56% of support among voters, while Talarico trailed at 44%. But the margin of error was more than 5 points, and sample sizes were small. In an internal poll for the Talarico campaign, Talarico led Crockett 47% to 43%. If neither wins more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday, the race will head to a runoff.

Talarico’s name skyrocketed to national attention this month after his interview with late night talk show host Stephen Colbert. The interview was only posted to the Late Show’s YouTube page, with Colbert claiming his network, CBS, had refused to air the interview for fear of retaliation from the Federal Communications Commission, which requires equal broadcast time for political candidates. (CBS and the FCC denied giving any instruction not to air the interview, and Colbert has interviewed Crockett on the show twice in the past year.)

Regardless of who Democrats choose on Tuesday, Republicans warn that the state’s Senate seat is less secure than they’d like this year. Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is sinking in the polls against Attorney General Ken Paxton, despite Paxton’s marital and financial scandals. And President Trump has declined to weigh in with an endorsement. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, fearful about the general election, has poured money into the Texas primary.

“It is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Wednesday on Fox & Friends.

The last time a Democrat served in the Senate for Texas was in 1993, but he was appointed to the seat and lost it to a Republican in a special election. Cornyn has held his seat since 2002 and has never faced a close election challenge until now. But pollsters aren’t sure what to expect. While Texas is generally considered to be solidly Republican, it has low turnout in elections. That turnout is even lower during a primary.

“In a general election, you have partisanship anchoring people’s vote decision, and it’s tough to move them off it. In a primary, you don’t have that anchor,” Jones said. “The actual politics and policies proposed by both Crockett and Talarico are pretty similar. This isn’t a race where the candidates are really all that different in terms of their position on the issues and how they would vote in the U.S. Senate. It’s more in terms of style and background and just overall vibes and likability.”

A former lawyer, Crockett is known for her quick comebacks and verbal altercations with U.S. House Republicans such as former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s also run a small grassroots campaign with no campaign manager, specialized in local stops, and up until this month had not even cut a television ad. Polling agrees that she has a sizable lead among black voters in Texas.

“You can’t afford to have a wild card in this moment. You need a proven, dedicated fighter who also just happens to know what she’s doing,” Crockett said on Sunday. “I’m going to tell you right now that my record is one of fighting. I ain’t never folded. Not a day in my life. Y’all never have to worry about where I stand.”

Talarico has adopted a different style. His campaign ads focus on reaching a variety of voters, even those who disagree with him. In 2018, he flipped a state House seat in a district that voted for Trump. He’s calling his bus tour the “Take Back Texas Tour.”

“I’m tired of being told to hate my neighbor,” Talarico said this week in San Marcos, arguing that political systems, corporate executives, and wealthy politicians are trying to divide the country. “Love sometimes requires that we flip over the tables of injustice. … Hate is boring. Hate is predictable. Hate can’t lower our energy bills. Hate can’t teach a child how to read. Hate can’t build a future. But what hate can’t do, love can.”

In his campaign stump, Talarico rarely calls out the president by name. He does lead chants to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and to end immigration raids across the country. But the thrust of his message is his definition of love, which he argues can encompass a large tent of primary voters.

“If you hate politics and you’ve never voted before, you have a place in this campaign,” Talarico said in San Marcos. “If you have voted for Democrats, but you’re tired of Democratic politicians always folding, you have a place in this campaign. And if you voted for Donald Trump, but you are fed up with the extremism and the corruption in our government, you also have a place in this campaign.”

Yet many voters remain undecided. Texas has open primaries and no formal party registration, so voters can choose to vote in either primary. In 2024, only 18% of registered voters cast ballots in the presidential primary elections. Even fewer came out to vote in statewide midterm primaries in 2022.

Michelle Acosta, a Houston Democrat, attended a campaign event for Cornyn in Houston last week where her father and brother spoke in support of the incumbent senator. But she’s still weighing her options in the Democratic race.

“For Talarico, I really like his approach in that he has conservative values of his own, but he doesn’t inflict them on other people. … For Crockett, I love her energy,” she said. “I think I need to learn a little bit more about what she wants to do. I’m not all for the right or all for the left. I’m very much in the middle.”

—with additional reporting from Todd Vician in Texas.